In our Wii vs N64 poll, the Wii ultimately emerged democratically triumphant.

Now, what about N64 vs Wii U? Both systems plagued by terrible droughts, yet both sporting several games considered classic gems.

Which do you think was the better console, and why?

N64.
This is gonna be very one-sided.

Both are shit. But Wii U has the best Mario Kart, 3D Zelda and an actual 2D Mario so it wins be default.

Wii U. I love Mario 64, OOT as much as the next guy and Paper Mario is one of my favorite games of all time but Breath of the Wild, Mario 3D World, Yoshi's Wooly World, Tropical Freeze, Pikmin 3, Mario Maker, NSMBU, Splatoon, Mario Kart 8, Color Splash was okay, The games just of course have aged better than the 64 ones in my opinion. And it had an actually good RPG on it with Xenoblade. I prefer the 1st party output on the Wii U more than the 64 is what I'm getting at. You also have Virtual Console so that's a plus.

I felt N64 was a the bigger disaster because at least they didn’t alienate anyone important with the Wii U (EA? That’s about it). But unlike the Wii U, the N64 was not intended to be a stopgap console. N64’s cartridges ended up being, IMO, the biggest mistake Nintendo ever made (Virtual Boy was inconsequential in the long run so it doesn’t really count). The Wii U felt more like a break from Wii-Mania, the N64 felt more like a devastating blow to the brand that had some permanence to it.

That said, there are many more N64 games I enjoyed over Wii U. Even if I were to rank Xenoblade Chronicles X above every N64 game, N64 still wins. Mario Kart 8 is phenomenal on Switch due to the portability and multiplayer, but it felt wasted and unimportant on the Wii U hardware (much like many other games).

N64 had GE007, Mario Kart 64, Banjo Kazooie, Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Conner, DKR, and so on. These were all cutting edge greats. Meanwhile, the Wii U had a lot of outdated feeling games and games that felt like they would be better on other hardware (as the Switch proved true in multiple cases).

N64 by a landslide. Though both consoles were not my favourite of the generation: During the Wii U era I liked both iOS and 3DS more, during the N64 era I liked PSX more, and Dreamcast more at the end of the gen. I think I even liked the SNES more than the N64... I probably played Wii games 5-10X as much as I did during the Wii U era if you take away Xenoblade Chronicles X.

I'll have to go with the Wii U. I love my N64 and a lot of its games, from the classics like Mario, the Zeldas, Kirby 64 to the more obscure gems like Mischief Makers and Sin & Punishment, a system I'll always cherish from my childhood and that I still play to this day, but the Wii U has more of my favorite games.

The best Pikmin, the best Donkey Kong, best Mario Kart, my favorite 3D Mario before Oddysey came, my favorite Xenoblade, a Yoshi game that could finally stand up to Island as one of the greats, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse with its magnificent soundtrack, Hyrule Warriors was something that I never thought I would want but it was great, Treasure Tracker, Splatoon, New Mario U is the best of the 4 New games too, plus Mario Maker, enjoyed Star Fox Zero a lot despite its issues, Smash Bros. 4 had some of the best newcomers in the series (excluding Chocobo boy), also had its fair share of indie games that I really loved, Shovel Knight, Pirate's Curse and Freedom Planet being the highlights for me.

And is also home to 2 of the best action games of all time, The Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2, both up there with Devil May Cry 3.

I could do without Tokyo Mirage Sessions existence, but that can be remembered as a Switch game now.

Wii U.

Now I appreciate the timeless classics that the N64 produced and the innovations it brought to the industry but I was really unhappy with my N64 during its lifespan most of the time. Certain genres I loved got little or no representation. The controller made games like Killer Instinct Gold an absolute chore to play. The lack of a good storage format meant games lacked content and looked like blurry messes. And certain games cost $80 or more.

I love Nintendo. Up until the N64, I loved them exclusively. My N64 gathered so much dust that I eventually bought a PS1. With most consoles, even bad consoles, there's usually so many good/great games that you can never hope you play them all. With the N64, there was just nothing to play and I was forced to buy games I had no desire to play.

Even the Wii U kept me happy throughout its short life. I STILL play it from time to time and it earned a place beside my Xbox One and PS4. The N64? I don't remember it fondly aside from a handful of greatness (Conker, Zelda, Mario 64, Star Fox, Mario Kart, Wave Race, DK64--and THAT'S IT.). When it was great, it was great. But when it was low...

Day one N64 owner, btw.

Wii U.

I just can't bring myself to say anything positive about the N64.  It was the console that ruined gaming for several decades and possibly forever.  We would have been much better off if the analogue stick and the games that came with it were never invented.  What a pile of garbage.

Well, you're half right.

Wii U

Everyone wanting 3D Graphics despite those shoddy, eye-cancer inducing visuals and experimental button layouts are the reason I skipped that entire gen and played exclusively on PC after 1995, safe for a couple turns at Sega Rally on the neighbor's console.

I got both a PSOne and a N64 a good decade later, but got less than 10 games between those two

9 for each, not exactly one-sided @Jpcc86